Feeding Therapy
Would My Child Benefit from Feeding Therapy?
Pediatric feeding therapy is a specialized type of therapy designed to help infants, toddlers, and children who have difficulties with feeding and swallowing. Both Occupational Therapists and Speech-Language Pathologists are trained in helping children overcome various challenges related to feeding.
Common Issues Addressed in Pediatric Feeding Therapy
- Feeding aversion: Refusal to eat certain foods or textures.
- Dysphagia: Difficulty swallowing.
- Oral motor dysfunction: Weakness or incoordination of the muscles used for eating.
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD): Reflux that makes eating uncomfortable.
- Sensory processing issues: Difficulty handling the sensory aspects of eating, such as taste, texture, or temperature.
- Behavioral feeding problems: Mealtime behaviors that interfere with adequate intake.
Would My Child Benefit from Feeding Therapy?
Answering “yes” to the following questions can indicate that your child may benefit from feeding therapy:
- Is your child not eating a variety of foods from all food groups or avoiding entire food groups?
- Is your child not eating an appropriate volume within a reasonable timeframe?
- Is your child refusing foods and engaging in avoidance behaviors (e.g., tantrums, throwing food, screaming, not sitting at the table)?
- Is your child not growing well?
- Is your child gagging or vomiting while eating?
- Is your child only eating certain textures of food (e.g., purees, crunchy solids, fluids)?
- Is your child eating fewer than 20 foods consistently?
- Is your child eliminating foods they previously ate consistently and not replacing them?
- Is your child not self-feeding (e.g., drinking from a cup, using utensils) as expected for their age?
- Is your child having difficulty transitioning from tube to oral feeding?
- Is your child aspirating, coughing, or choking while eating or shortly after eating?
- Is your child having difficulty weaning from a bottle to solid foods?
Feeding Therapy Can Address:
- Improving sensory tolerance to various food textures
- Developing chewing skills
- Increasing the variety and volume of nutritional intake to include all food groups and textures
- Reducing avoidance behaviors during mealtimes
Our feeding therapists work with families to promote home generalization of skills by including parents in therapy sessions, modeling strategies for use in the home, and making specific recommendations based on each child’s needs and goals.
The earlier you begin feeding therapy, the faster you will see changes. It is easier to change a 2-year-old’s relationship with food than a 12-year-old’s. However, feeding therapy can make mealtime more enjoyable for people of all ages, even adults!